Secretly recorded calls admissible in marital disputes: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a spouse may rely on secretly recorded telephonic conversations with the other partner in matrimonial disputes, including divorce proceedings, because such communications are not barred under the law and do not amount to a breach of privacy.

- Utkarsh Anand

In a significant ruling that reshapes the contours of privacy and evidence within marriage, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma set aside a 2021 judgment of the Punjab and Haryana high court, which had barred a husband from using a compact disc (CD) or a memory card containing conversations with his estranged wife, recorded without her knowledge.

The court relied on section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act, which bars disclosure of marital communications by one spouse without the other's consent. However, the same provision contains an exception when such communication is brought forth during legal proceedings between the spouses. To be sure, section 122 of the Evidence Act has been replaced by section 121 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.

The bench asserted that while the right to privacy exists between spouses, it is not absolute. The exception under section 122, it said, must be read in conjunction with the constitutional right to a fair trial, which is also protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.

"We have also referred to the 2017 KS Puttaswamy judgment," said the court, referring to the landmark ruling that affirmed privacy as a fundamental right.